Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, catching up on a few soundtrack CDs I never got around to, none of ‘em very good, frankly, and a few of which are truly annoying. I think I’ll rid myself of a few of them, should there be any takers. They’re all out of print and going for decent dough. Other than that, I’m feeling a bit listless, so I made a few lists and that helped. Have you ever felt listless and filled with ennui? Or, if you’re in a theater mood, filled with Anouilh? Speaking of Anouilh, why do we never hear about him? Why are his plays, once performed regularly, not done anymore? I was a huge fan of his work. I saw the film of Becket and loved it and did the play shortly thereafter. I saw a wonderful production of Waltz of the Toreadors at my beloved Huntington Hartford Theater, starring Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson – so funny and wonderfully entertaining. The film version doesn’t quite do it, however, despite Peter Sellers being in it. I tried writing a musical version of it in 1970 – wrote a few songs, one of which wasn’t bad – I didn’t include any of that in the Simply book. I’ve read the Hellman adaptation of his The Lark and I enjoyed reading Ring Round the Moon. Of course, I’ve seen his most popular play, Antigone, in several productions. The last brief revival of an Anouilh play on Broadway is over two decades ago. I’ll have to re-read a few of them that I own. As to the other Anouilh aka ennui, I’ve just about had it, if you get my meaning. And the soundtrack from Fellini Satyricon isn’t helping anything, as it’s the kind of music that turns people into serial killers, and I’m a Nino Rota fan, but not of this thing. What else can I tell you? I’m drinking some water. I wish I knew why I am one of the few who just doesn’t care for water. If I didn’t know it was good for, I wouldn’t go near it. But I try to do a bottle a day. Two of the other scores I heard tonight were Miklos Rozsa’s Fedora, the newer Varese Encore edition, and Morricone’s Bloodline, also on Varese. Both are completely ruined by inept mastering, by a guy who brick walls everything he touches, as if he’s mastering a rock-and-roll record. He has no idea how to EQ sound. Bloodline, which I got for Varese back somewhere around 1980 was a fine-sounding LP – I sequenced it and supervised its release, sans credit. The CD sounds terrible. Fedora was an early Varese Club release back in the 1980s and sounded just fine. This remastering sounds terrible, too – it’s mind-boggling actually.
Yesterday was a weird little day. I got up at around 7:45 after only four hours of sleep. I did stuff until ten then went back to bed and slept another four hours, so I got eight hours – it just didn’t feel like it. Once up again, I answered e-mails, did a few things, ascertained that there was no mail, and before I knew it it was time to do the little Google Meet test for today’s first Partridge Family event. I’d read online that you didn’t need an app to join a Google Meet event. That proved to be untrue, so I quickly had to download the app and then it was fine. I also downloaded the Google Chrome app and made it the iPhone’s default browser, because apparently Google Meet and Streamyard, which it the second event’s platform, likes Chrome better than Safari. I’m not sure why all browsers can’t be made equal, but they’re not. The test went fine and only lasted about seven minutes or so. I was then starving, so I moseyed on over to Gelson’s. I got a chicken Caesar salad from the Wolfgang Puck section – I asked if the extra dressing I’d got a week before was still good and the man said it was fine for a bit over a week. I also got hot dogs, buns, and hamburger buns for tuna sandwiches, when I get around to making those. I came home and dumped the Caesar salad into my big bowl, but I was not thrilled to see some turning brown leaves in there, so I picked those out – there was till plenty of good greens left. Best of all, I only used the small cup of dressing they give you and it was fine with just that amount, so in future I don’t really need the extra big thing of dressing. The Caesar was very good and probably around 700 calories with the amount of dressing I used and only two ounces or so of chicken. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I was in the mood to watch Black Widow again – the film with Debra Winger and Theresa Russell, directed by Bob Rafelson. I love the film and find it a minor classic of its genre. Debra Winger is fantastic – I’m not sure what happened to her or her career, but she was a real favorite of mine. Russell is very good, as is the large supporting cast. I never tire of watching it – it’s well written, beautifully shot and directed (and I am NOT a fan of its director), with a great Michael Small score. I always think I remember what the ending is but I’m always wrong, so that’s fun. The transfer from Twilight Time is tops.
After that, I ate a few peanuts to bring me closer to 1000 calories, wasn’t in the mood to take a walk, and so listened to music and felt listless in Sherman Oaks and was filled with both ennui and Anouilh.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll probably eat hot dogs unless I’m more in the tuna sandwich mode, then I’ll relax before I do these two marathon Partridge Family events. One begins at four and I have to be out of there by around five so that I can then log out of that and into Streamyard to do the second event, which has a lot of fun people involved. That one starts at five-thirty and will probably go a couple of hours. I’m sure I’ll be exhausted after that.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye comes, so I’ll probably go eat a light breakfast somewhere, no more than 400 calories for sure, then I’ll kill time until I can return to the clean house. Then it will be whatever it will be and I’m sure I’ll do hot dogs for a later meal, maybe just two, which would bring me up to about 770 calories, so I could, in fact, do three hot dogs if I’m actually feeling the need to do so. Then again, I might partake of a couple of dear reader Jeanne’s special sugar-free dark chocolate squares, just because I can. Sunday will be more of the same and I’ll have food to make here. I could, in fact, even make tuna pasta salad and that would last for two days. Could be. Who knows? Then next week either a little miracle will show up or we’ll be living The Poseidon Adventure. I would prefer the former to the latter, although at this point, I’m just tired of that stuff, I must say, and I’m even a little listless and filled with ennui.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, eat, relax, and then do the two Partridge Family events back-to-back, after which I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, bad soundtracks. Blu-ray, I’m going to start re-watching all the Ozu films. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, having made the lists of the listless, which were filled with ennui and Anouilh.